Why a home treadmill is a huge safety risk for your kids

Treadmill burns rated second only to hot stovetop burns for kids. (Image: iStock)

The rate of treadmill-related injuries for kids is rising at an alarming rate.

It's the most-used piece of fitness equipment on the face of the earth, but having a treadmill in your living room could put your kids at risk.

New research from Nationwide Children's Hospital in the US has revealed the shocking toll home treadmills have on children, with more than 12,000 kids admitted to the ER with injuries every year.

The vast majority of injuries came as a result of children falling off the back of the treadmill – but there's also been an alarming increase in skin burns where kids have gotten their hands caught between the belt and the machine.

"We were alarmed by the number and severity of treadmill-related burns that we encountered in our outpatient burn clinic," said Dana Noffsinger, who authored the study.

"We were also alarmed by the fact that these treadmill burns appeared to be deeper compared to other contact hand burns."

Treadmill burns were so frequent that they rated as the second leading cause of hand burns – only losing to contact hand burns caused by touching things like a hot stovetop.

"Our study found that treadmill hand burns accounted for four percent of our total burn population while contact hand burns accounted for 12 percent," explains Noffsinger.

If that wasn't enough to have you install a child-proof fence around your home gym, the researchers found that, unlike the shallow burns caused by touching something hot, treadmill burns were much more likely to be deep and long-lasting.

On average, a child with a treadmill burn required 51 days of care, versus a child who had a contact burn from a stovetop, which required just 11 days of care.

Here in Australia, an average of 107 people turn up at local hospitals every year with treadmill-related injuries in Victoria alone, with children making up most of those numbers.

Just last year, David Goldberg Survey Monkey CEO and husband of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, reportedly died as a result of injuries he sustained when he fell off a hotel treadmill.

To minimise treadmill-related injuries by both kids and adults, the researchers recommend reminding everyone in the household that a treadmill is a potentially dangerous object.

"We can ensure a safer environment for children by helping caregivers recognise that a treadmill is a piece of heavy machinery," says Dr Huiyun Xiang, who also contributed to the study.

"We also recommend the use of baby gates or play pens, to not leave a running treadmill unattended, and to have caregivers position the treadmill to face the room."